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The Pros And Cons Of State Prisons

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According to the book, State and Local Government, “2.3 million people are confined to state prisons and local jails in the United States” (Bowman and Kearney 459). Also prisons have grown 4 percent over the years. However, “prisons continue to operate beyond official capacity in many states, despite the construction of numerous new facilities to reduce the problems of prison overcrowding and its accompanying conditions of poor sanitation, inadequate health care, and high levels of violence” (Bowman and Kearney 459). There are three factors to the reason behind high imprisonment rates such as harsh sentences, public opinions, and drug enforcement penalties. But most are concerned by who should pay, how much is the public responsible to help pay, and how much should …show more content…

So in order for the states to pay for these expenses, they have been taking money from other state expenditures such as highways, social services, and education. In New Jersey, the state pays for most of their offenders especially on violent and repeated ones who still pose an immediate danger to society if they were to be released. However, in some states, prisons pay for drug related offenders such as paying for substance abuse counseling and supervision. But most prisons do not pay for the inmates especially for offenders that are older or no longer pose a threat to society (Bowman and Kearney). Over the past ten or so years, prison rates have risen 127 percent and currently cost an estimate of $44 billion a year (Bowman and Kearney). According to the website, “Budget Solutions”, Americans are putting forward a lot of money towards prions because it cost about $18,000 - $50,000 per inmate a year ("The Case for Reform: Prisons"). According to the article, “Policy Basics: Where Do Our State Tax Dollars Go?” five percent, or $50 billion, of states budgets goes towards prisons (“Center on Budget and Policy

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Private prisons were constructed as a response to the overcrowding in federal prisons during the 1980s; many people speculate whether or not private prisons are good or bad. Critics argue that private prisons like any business are driven by profit, and prisons profit from the amount of criminals they are able to contain which gives the private prisons and their shareholders incentive to keep the prison population high and expenses low. The National Council on Crime and Delinquency estimates that over the next ten years state and federal expenditures on prisons will amount to $351 billion6. These government subsidies along with the support of private prison shareholders allow the prison industrial complex to keep their power and influence

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That is a 500% increase from forty years ago.2 The U.S. also has the world’s highest incarceration rate. Here we host 25% of the world’s incarcerated population, even though the U.S. only accounts for 5% of the world’s population.2 Because of that, the U.S. spends $262 billion a year to run this system.2 This does not just have a monetary affect; prisoners suffer wage losses which make it hard to adjust back into the community when they are released. Because of their criminal record, they also miss out on job opportunities and the ability to benefit from public housing. Due to the struggles prisoners face after being released from the prison system, it is not surprising that about 45% of prisoners go back to prison, raising the incarceration rate.2 While researching, I found some interesting information on incarceration in Louisiana.

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Of the 50 United States in 2011, the state of Arizona ranks ninth in crime rate with 3,961 crimes occurring per 100,000 people. This statistic is well above the national average, and ranks in the top 10% of the nation. And to go along with such high crime rates, high prison funding is sure to follow, a problem recognized by the general public. A fact sheet quoting data taken in 2010 states that the Arizona Department of Corrections had $998.5 million in prison expenditures, leaving the price of prisons nearing $1 billion. As if those raw numbers aren’t staggering enough, those who are against the current prison system in Arizona point to taxpayer dollars as a major point of concern.

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Improving American Prisons When looking at the American prison system it can be seen that it is something that can and needs to be improved on. Compared to other countries around the world the United States is number one with the highest incarceration rates. In 2013, the United States Department of Justice, estimated that more than 1.5 million persons were in a state or federal prison. That is an increase of 4000 more than in the previous year. As we can see, overcrowding is one of the biggest problems that the government faces when looking at prisons.

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United States Prisons: A Mental Cage The United States is one of the world’s most recognized and powerful superpowers since its industrial and commercial production along with their nearly limitless military budget make them practically invincible. This demonstrates the power of the United States on foreign soil and problems, yet many internal problems in the United States are left disregarded and neglected, simply thrown away. Citizens and lawmakers remain silent on several key social issues and on one of the biggest shameful topics of neglect, America’s incarceration rate.

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Why does it cost so much? Well, it cost so much because as they grow older they also get weaker and sick. When they grow old they need much more care than before and they also need a lot of medicine. They also have a lot of health and mental problems. Some prisoners even have dementia and they do not even remember the crimes that they committed a long time ago.

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As stated here “The more money a state spends on building and running prisons, the less there is for everything else, from roads and bridges to health care and public

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The current system that incarcerates people over and over is unsustainable and does not lower the crime rate nor encourage prisoner reformation. When non-violent, first time offenders are incarcerated alongside violent repeat offenders, their chance of recidivating can be drastically altered by their experience in prison. Alternative sentencing for non-violent drug offenders could alleviate this problem, but many current laws hinder many possible solutions. Recently lawmakers have made attempts to lower the recidivism rates in America, for example the Second Chance Act helps aid prisoners returning into society after incarceration. The act allows states to appropriate money to communities to help provide services such as education, drug treatment programs, mental health programs, job corps services, and others to aid in offenders returning to society after incarceration (Conyers, 2013).

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In 2019, it was recorded that the average annual cost to incarcerate a single inmate in an Ohio prison was about 29 thousand dollars (Meeker et al., 2020). The price tag of housing a single inmate is not cheap, meaning that overcrowding is an issue that Ohio must work towards solving. The overcrowding of jails and prisons has contributed to unmet regulations required by Ohio and has placed stress upon short-staffed facilities (Ackley et al., 2023). Ohio’s overcrowding causes poor conditions and substandard treatment, as well as continued high rates of recidivism and unfair environments for released offenders. Ohio must utilize effective programs in order to prevent these ongoing issues and place more emphasis on treatment options for those seeking it, thus helping

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There are no overhead cost because prision are prepaid and all other aspects are paid for by taxpayer dollars. The government spends a total of 20 billion dollars a year In the 21st century prisoners can be view as a modern slave working laborious jobs without humane treatment. Inmates work to make profitable products for large corporations and are compensated by one of two ways. They are either able to make 0.13¢ up to $1.15 per hour, or in states such as Florida inmates can subtract time from their sentence in exchange for work, allowing private federal prisons to took in approximately five billion dollars total in revenue in

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The same money that could be used to support the suffering lower class is being used to feed the scum of this country. Prison does not work the way it is intended. Prison is not an effective deterrent of criminals, not only due to its over comforting of its charges, but also due to its lackluster success rates and overall waste of time, money, and resources. Prison is not an entirely uncomfortable place to be. Any prisoner can expect three meals a day,running water, air conditioning, and a bed to sleep on.

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The $75 billion that is used to fight the war on drugs annually could be funneled into the prison system (Buckley, Nadelmann, Schmoke, McNamara, Sweet, Szasz, T., et al., 1996). With this extra money, specific failures in the prison system can be addressed. Because placing prisoners together in confined areas may lead to violence, and because isolating them may lead to frustration and aggression, this money could be used to hire more officers, to purchase more recreational equipment, to provide more complete medical treatment, and to provide more counseling sessions (Seiter, 2008).

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According to Department of corrections and rehabilitation there is approximately 2.3 million adult offenders currently detained and which consist of 316,229 prisoners which are overseen by correctional officers on an ongoing basis costing on an average of $49 per prisoner, additionally their current budget is approximately $11 billion, which is distributed between 33 state prisons, 40 camps, as well as 12 community correctional facilities. Furthermore, the male population is 93%, 7% are females, Hispanics represent 39%, 29% are African American, and 26% are Caucasian, moreover, there are 24,000 inmates currently serving life sentences and 680 on death row, as well as the 124,000 parolees of which there is a 51% return ratio for parole violations, thus resulting in prison over-crowding.

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The prison population rate in the U.S. is 716 per 100,000 people. Unless someone has spent time researching this rate for different countries, the statistic probably doesn’t make much sense. Of the 222 countries and territories listed in the Tenth Edition of the ICPS World Prison Population List, 54% had rates below 150 per 100,000, and the world’s average was 144 per 100,000

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Taxpayers pay over fifteen billion dollars a year to house jail inmates arrested for marijuana

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